Direct reduction of iron from iron oxide pellets, lump ore, or other iron oxide containing feed material is usually performed in of a direct reduction furnace, such as a vertical shaft furnace. The feed material usually contains a significant proportion of finely divided material, or "fines" often created by abrasion of the pellets or lumps during handling. Direct reduction is carried out by contacting the feed material with hot reducing gases rich in carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The reducing gas is passed through a metal oxide containing burden in the furnace and withdrawn from the top of the furnace, along with metal oxide material in the form of finely divided particles. The fines must be separated from the gas, and heretofore must have been disposed of. Such disposal has usually taken the form of placing the fines into stock piles or attempting to mix the fines with some binder to form a usable material.
The present invention treats these removed fines by reducing them to metallized iron, which can be utilized in other processes. This dramatically reduces the amount of waste fines for disposal.